HATS. 



511 



stood, from its analogy to the blowing and scutch- 

 ing machine of the cotton manufacture, (see Cotton 

 Manufacture in body of work.) Mr Ollerenshaw's 

 machine is now generally employed for ironing hats. 



Messrs Gilman and Wilson, of Manchester, ob- 

 tained a patent, in 1823, for a peculiar kind of 

 fabric to be made of cotton, or a mixture of cot- 

 ton and silk, for the covering of hats and bonnets, 

 in imitation of beaver. The foundation of the hat 

 may be of felt, hemp, wool, which is to be covered 

 by the patent fabric. This debased article does 

 not seem to have got into use ; cotton, from its 

 want of the felting property and inelasticity, being 

 very ill-adapted for making hat-stuff. 



A more ingenious invention of John Gibson, 

 hatter, in Glasgow, consisting of an elastic fabric 

 of whalebone, was made the subject of a patent, 

 in June, 1824. The whalebone, being separated 

 into threads no larger than hay stalks, is to be 

 boiled in some alkaline liquid for removing the oil 

 from it, and rendering it more elastic. The longest 

 threads are to be employed for warp, the shorter 

 for weft ; and are to be woven in a hair-cloth loom. 

 This fabric is to be passed between rollers, after 

 which it is fit to be cut out into forms for making 

 hats and bonnets, to be sewed together at the 

 joints, and stiffened with a preparation of resinous 

 varnishes, to prevent its being acted upon by per- 

 spiration or rain. A very considerable improve- 

 ment in the lightness and elasticity of silk hats has 

 been the result of this invention. 



Silk hats, for several years after they were 

 manufactured, were liable to two objections ; first, 

 the body or shell over which the silk covering is 

 laid, was, from its hardness, apt to hurt the head ; 

 second, the edge of the crown being much exposed 

 to blows, the silk nap soon got abraded, so as to 

 lay bare the cotton foundation, which is not cap- 

 able of taking so fine a black dye as the silk ; 

 whence the hat assumed a shabby appearance. 

 Messrs Mayhew and White, of London, hat-manu- 

 facturers, proposed in their patent of February, 

 1826, to remedy these defects, by making the hat 

 body of stuff or wool, and relieving the stiffness of 

 the inner part round the brim, by attaching a coat- 

 ing of beaver upon the under side of the brim, so 

 as to render the hat pliable. Round the edge of 

 the "tip or crown, a quantity of what is called stop 

 wool is to be attached by the ordinary operation of 

 bowing, which will render the edge soft and elas- 

 tic. The hat is to be afterwards dyed of a good 

 black colour, both outside and inside ; and being 

 then properly stiffened and blocked, is ready for 

 the covering of silk. The plush employed for 

 covering silk hats, is a raised nap or pile woven 

 usually upon a cotton foundation ; ind the cotton, 

 being incapable of receiving the same brilliant black 

 dye as the silk, renders the hat apt t\.' turn brown 

 whenever the silk nap is partially worn off. The 

 patentees proposed to counteract this evil, by 

 making the foundation of the plush entirely of silk. 

 To these two improvements, now pretty generally 

 introduced, the present excellence of the silk hats 

 may be, in a good measure, ascribed. 



Mr Carey, of Basford, obtained a patent in Oc- 

 tober, 1834, for an invention of certain machinery 

 to be employed in the manufacture of hats. It 

 consists in the adaptation of a system of rollers, 

 forming a machine, by means of which the opera- 

 tion of roughing or plaiting of hats may be per- 

 formed ; that is, the beaver or other fur may be 

 made to attach itself and work into the felt or hat 



body, without the necessity of the ordinary manual 

 operations. 



The improved stiffening for hat bodies proposed 

 by Mr Blades, under his patent of January, 1828, 

 consists in making his solution of shellac in an al- 

 kaline lye, instead of spirits of wine, or pyroxy- 

 lic spirit, vulgarly called naphtha. He prepares 

 his water-proof stiffening by mixing 18 pounds of 

 shellac with 1 pounds of salt of tartar (carbonate 

 potas.), and 5 gallons of water. These materials 

 are to be put into a kettle, and made to boil gradu- 

 ally until the lac is dissolved; when the liquor will 

 become as clear as water, without any scum upon 

 the top, and if left to cool, will have a thin crust 

 upon its surface of a whitish cast, mixed with the 

 light impurities of the gum. When this skin is 

 taken off, the hat body is to be dipped into the 

 mixture in a cold state, so as to absorb as much as 

 possible of it ; or it may be applied with a brush 

 or sponge. The hat body being thus stiffened, 

 may stand till it become dry, or nearly so ; and 

 after it has been brushed, it. must be immersed in 

 very dilute sulphuric or acetic acid, in order to 

 neutralize the potash, and cause the shellac to set. 

 If the hats are not to be napped immediately, they 

 may be thrown into a cistern of pure water, and 

 taken out as wanted. Should the hat bodies have 

 been worked at first with sulphuric acid (as usual), 

 they must be soaked in hot water to extract the 

 acid, and dried before the stiffening is applied ; 

 care being taken that no water falls upon the stiff- 

 ened body, before it has been immersed in the acid. 

 This ingenious chemical process has not been, to 

 the best of my knowledge, introduced into the hat 

 manufacture. A varnish made by dissolving shel- 

 lac, mastic, sandarach, and other resins in alcohol, 

 or the naphtha of wood vinegar, is generally em- 

 ployed as the stiffening and water-proof ingredient 

 of hat bodies. A solution of caoutchouc is often 

 applied to whalebone and horse-hair hat bodies. 



The following recipe has been prescribed as a 

 good composition for stiffening hats : four parts of 

 shellac, one part of mastic, one half of a part of 

 turpentine, dissolved in five parts of alcohol, by 

 agitation and subsequent repose, without the aid 

 of heat. This stiffening varnish should be applied 

 quickly to the body or foundation with a soft ob- 

 long brush, in a dry and rather warm workshop ; 

 the hat being previously fitted with its inside 

 turned outwards upon a block. The body must be 

 immediately afterwards taken off, to prevent ad- 

 hesion. 



The ordinary bath for dyeing hats, employed 

 by the London manufacturers, consists, for twelve 

 dozen, of 



44 pounds of logwood ; 



12 pounds of green sulphate of iron, or copperas ; 



7.5 pounds of verdigris. 



The copper is usually made of a semi-cylindrical 

 shape, and should be surrounded with an iron 

 jacket or case, into which steam may be admitted, 

 so as to raise the temperature of the interior bath 

 to 190 F., but no higher, otherwise the heat is apt 

 to affect the stiffening varnish, called the gum, 

 with which the body of the hat has been imbued. 

 The logwood having been introduced and digested 

 for some time, the copperas and verdigris are added 

 in successive quantities, and in the above propor- 

 tions, along with every successive two or three 

 dozens of hats, suspended upon the dipping ma- 

 chine. Each set of hats, after being exposed to 

 the bath, with occasional airings, during forty 



